Corus Entertainment has reported its fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter and year-end financial results, highlighted by a growth in profitability for the Radio division, despite lower advertising demand, and further revenue declines in Television.
For the fourth quarter, TV advertising revenue declined by 23%, contributing to a 14% decrease in total TV segment revenue. Full-year TV revenue was down 11%.
“We are all seeing a challenging advertising environment due to ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainty and increased levels of advertising inventory available from competing digital players,” Corus CEO John Gosling told an earnings call on Thursday.
The lower revenue resulted in a decline in segment profit, which was down 34% for the quarter and 32% for the year. However, the company emphasized that cost controls helped cushion the impact.
Doug Spence, VP of Finance, noted that the drop in profit was “mainly reflecting lower revenue, partially offset by the benefit of G&A (General & Administrative) expense savings from significant ongoing cost reduction initiatives as we work to mitigate the impact of lower revenues.”
TV employee costs were down 10% in Q4 and 12% for the year, a direct result of headcount reduction initiatives.
In contrast to TV, the Radio segment saw growth in profitability despite a decline in revenue. Radio segment revenue for the quarter and the year decreased by 10% due to lower advertising demand. However, aggressive cost-cutting measures led to a substantial improvement in profit of $2.6 million, up 85% in the quarter, and a 37% year-over-year bump to $13 million for the year. That boosted Radio segment profit margin to 13% in Q4 (up from 7% from the same period last year) and 15% for the full year (up from 10% year-over-year).
Digital growth
Corus continues to focus on growing its digital offerings to offset linear TV challenges, expanding its digital suite with new additions like the Detour channel to STACKTV and launching 12 free ad-supported television (FAST) channels on the Global TV app.
Gosling expressed ongoing confidence in the company’s content direction, saying he is “confident we have the right content, brands, and offerings to build on our audience momentum from the past year.”
The company additionally announced an increase in its revolving credit facility to $125 million as part of its liquidity management strategy.
Corus stock was trading down at .095 cents, following Thursday afternoon’s earnings call.
